Emotional support animals in Austin rentals

Austin's Office of Civil Rights

Austin created its Civil Rights Division, also called the Office of Civil Rights, in 2020. It sits within Austin Equity and Inclusion and enforces civil rights laws that include fair housing. You can email civilrights@austintexas.gov or call 512-974-3251.

HUD lists the City of Austin among its Fair Housing Assistance Program agencies, so the city can take on housing discrimination cases locally. The city's complaints page also points to Austin Code Title 2, Chapter 2-14 in connection with fair housing reasonable accommodations.

Who Austin's ordinance protects

Federal and Texas fair housing law cover disability, familial status, sex, religion, national origin, color and race. Austin's Fair Housing Assistance Program also accepts complaints based on creed, student status, marital status, age or source of income.

An ESA request is still a disability matter, so the extra categories won't decide it on their own. They become relevant when a refusal looks tangled up with something else, for instance a landlord who seems fine with ESAs for working tenants but stonewalls students, or who rejects a tenant using a housing voucher. If both disability and another protected trait seem to be in play, mention both when you contact the office.

West Campus, roommates and shared leases

Many Austin renters near UT share a unit with roommates on a joint lease or rent by the bedroom. An ESA request in those buildings goes to the property, not the roommates, but it helps to talk with the people you live with first. An approved accommodation doesn't settle a roommate's allergies or dog phobia, and properties sometimes resolve those conflicts by offering a different unit.

Ask whether the building's animal policy is the same for by-the-bed leases as for whole units. Get the approval in writing with your name and the animal's description, so a mid-year roommate change or a new manager doesn't reopen the question.

Suburbs and county lines

Austin spans Travis County and reaches into Williamson County, so a northwest Austin address can sit in Williamson and still be inside city limits, where the city ordinance applies. Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park and Georgetown are separate cities, though, and Austin's ordinance doesn't follow you there.

Outside Austin, your options are TWC's Civil Rights Division and HUD. Either works anywhere in Texas. TWC wants complaints filed within one year, and the same complaint can't go to both TWC and HUD.

UT Austin and Texas State rules

UT Austin's Disability and Access office, known as D&A, has to approve an emotional support animal before it moves into university housing. ESAs aren't allowed in other university buildings, so classrooms, libraries and dining halls are off limits.

Texas State University is in San Marcos, about 30 miles south. Its policy on emotional support animals (SS/PPS 07.12) uses an ESA Information form completed by a qualified professional with an established therapeutic relationship. Ask Texas State Disability Services in advance whether a letter from a new online evaluation meets that standard, because the school decides what documentation it accepts.

Fees under HUD's 2026 approach

Since HUD's memo of May 22, 2026, federal investigators weigh each untrained-ESA request individually and no longer assume the animal must be allowed at no charge. It changed federal enforcement, not Texas law or Austin's ordinance, and we haven't seen TWC or city guidance on whether they'll follow HUD's lead. If an Austin property charges for your ESA, keep the paperwork and ask the Office of Civil Rights how the city views it.

Flying from AUS

At Austin-Bergstrom International, as at every U.S. airport, carriers have been permitted since early 2021 to classify ESAs as pets. Check what your airline charges and which crates it accepts before you buy a ticket.

Booking from Austin

The visit happens over video or phone, from a dorm, an East Austin duplex or a Leander rental. When an ESA is supported, the signed PDF is often ready that day.

Pricing is simple: $129 for a letter that names one or two animals, $199 when it names three or more. Scheduling is free, and your card is charged only after a clinician signs a letter for you.

It shows the clinician's credential, license number and the state that granted it, and booking confirms Texas availability. When things feel too heavy, 988 answers calls and texts at any hour, and 911 is the number for emergencies. Integral Care's 24-hour line for Travis County is 512-472-4357.